


The People

by meltedpuddles



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: F/M, Five is our bi king who does some u characteristically dumb shit in the name of love, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-08-18
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:27:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25973635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meltedpuddles/pseuds/meltedpuddles
Summary: Five is on the hunt for an heirloom that could prevent his travels back and forth from messing with the timeline, but his feelings for Diego start to get in the way.Meanwhile, Vanya starts a book club.
Relationships: Number Five | The Boy & Diego Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & Vanya Hargreeves
Kudos: 12





	1. Prologue

February 21st, 1976

Light pattering is echoing in Five’s mind, the rain pouring from the sky drenching his blazer and also his thoughts. He needed to focus, he knows that, but his ability for distraction has become something unrivalled. 

He never used to be like this. Five was calm, collected and witty, but now it’s just exhaustion, irritation and being too late to catch onto the joke. 

Five ignores his mind and speeds up the pace, his shoes splash with muddy water at each step. The cafe he was at last night is only a block away. There was a woman there, thin and pale, and she ordered a cappuccino with extra sugar. He runs until he skids, swinging open the glass door to The Hut and storming forth. There she was, draped in black, her long fingers clenching around the mug, just an inch away from it smashing in her rough hands. 

“Hey, Lady,” Five starts, brining his foot up to rest on the back of her stool, “You have something I need.”

She turns around slowly, her black hood falling back to show her face, shallow and dull. Five gulps and readies his fist.

”Give it to me!”

“Who you talking to there, boy?” Asks the waitress, her hand covered by a cloth as she cleans the mug of a customer.

Five frowns and blinks at her, “What are you talking about, lady?”

He looks back down to just above his foot, the woman and the clock he needs both gone.

Five instead smashes his airborne fist into splintering wood of the stool.

“Fuck!”


	2. The Way I Touch

January 13th, 2019

  
Diego's hair is long, and his beard looks much scruffier today than it did yesterday. Five glances at his scrunched nose but quickly reverts his attention to his coffee. The world isn't in danger this time, at least not that he is aware of, but Five wants to ensure it never is in danger again. At least when it comes to his and the rest of the Umbrella Academy's time travelling.

  
The Handler told him something back when he was stuck in the future, about a clock that would pause the timeline as it is to prevent a butterfly effect circumstance causing a literal implosion of the very planet he sits on now. 

  
All he has to do, as far as he is concerned, is track down and kill whoever owns it. That part, he's not entirely sure on. The Handler gave him so little information that he's not even sure if she's telling the truth. He had dwelled over that fact that maybe the clock didn't exist back in the 60s, but he's sure it does. That wretched woman lies about a lot, but she tends to include a lick of truth in there somewhere. 

  
"Diego, have a look at this," Vanya says behind Five, catching him out of his daydream, or whatever you want to call it. Her long brown hair is tied in a knot on the top of her forehead and her face is buried in her book. She looks up expectantly at Diego, who is too busy looking in the fridge to answer to anyone.

  
"Diego, my darling, Vanya needs you," Klaus yearns, his fingers sliding down the side of Diego's jacket exaggeratedly. Diego looks up and fake laughs, the wrinkles around his mouth folding inwards. Five wants to hit him, touch him, kiss him, he doesn't even know anymore. 

  
Diego is a subject in Five's mind he all too often ignores. The soft way Diego looks at him as he turns around to walk to Vanya makes his heart coil and constrict, the way maybe a heart attack would feel to a 90-year-old man. Five keeps his face stony and uncracked. It doesn't matter to him how Diego perceive him, after all, it's a lost cause. Five is away from the rest of the Hargreaves far too much for anything to ever work out, or even get as far as developing. 

  
Vanya and Diego are gazing at a book, with Klaus slinging his arms around the both of them, pretending he knows what is going on. They're talking about creating a book club, or whatever, for them and their friends.

  
It's funny how a couple of years back in 2019 has changed them. Five is growing tired, beginning to put his heart first before his brains, while the rest of them just become more like how Five used to be. Klaus feels closed off, his demeanour sometimes cruel and always unloving. Something bad happened to him, Five knows it, but he doesn't want to pry. Vanya and Diego have become closer, and softer. They speak quietly to one another and always have this eerie inside joke. Frustrating is one way to describe it, but it's more earth-shattering. 

  
The others, on the other hand, well. Allison and Luther are complicated. They spend time together, they fight, they hate it and they rekindle. No one's sure about whether they're fucking, loving or neither. All they know is that it's not a bear to be poked by any stick, long or short. 

  
"Diego," Five says, scribbling in the notebook in front of him an address, "I need you to go here for me, there's an old man who I think might have something to do with the clock I'm looking for."

  
Diego looks up at his sharply, touching Vanya's shoulder in a dismissive matter, "Yeah? What's he got to do with it?"

  
"I'm not sure, it was given to me by the Commission. It's an address The Handler had in her files that was unmarked. Something is suspicious about it, and I want you to check it out for me. The guy's name is Hans."

  
Diego nods, his eyes confused but determined. One of the things Five never stopped admiring about Diego was his ambition to always help, despite how annoying it may be at times. 

  
"I'll do my best, call me if I'm not back by 4."

  
Five smiles tightly, the expression dropping from his face as soon as it appears on it. He catches Vanya's stare, her icy eyes piercing into his soul in the one way he doesn't want them too. She sees his heart, he knows she does. 

  
"You want to check out this book, Five?" She asks softly, her flannel draping from her thin arms as they outstretch a red hunk of paper. The front of the page is plastered with an obnoxious white font reading, "The Way I Touch."

  
Five grabs it from her grasp and gives it a quick flick through. It's short, and it looks like the first draft of something plain. 

  
"What is it about?" Five questions, keeping a steady hold as he gives it back to Vanya. 

  
"Ah, " she mutters, "Love, I guess. It seems stupid but it's written by a friend of mine, Amber. She wanted me to show it around some more and get opinions for her. She's just starting to write and is looking to get published."

  
Humming comes from Five's throat as he thinks, "Maybe, if I get any time."

  
"Please," Vanya begs, "Do me a favour."

  
It's a weird situation. Five doesn't know how to react to Vanya's new attitude these days. She's much more free and open, her body language and tone expressing far more than she ever could with her voice. Vanya has changed since Five last knew her well, and he can't decide whether it's good for the soul or not.  
"Yeah, sure, okay," he decides and lets his eyes travel Diego as the man strides out the door. Five gets up not a minute later and all he can think about is sleep. He's been so stressed these last few years, and all he wants is a break.

  
It's fine. He can sleep, Diego will take care of the old man for him.


End file.
